Avoid the heartbreak of a nasty post-publication hangover this Valentine’s Day

Avoid the heartbreak of a nasty post-publication hangover this Valentine’s Day

This is an extract from the CAP website.

Are you drunk on love?

With Valentine’s Day on the horizon, many people will be looking forward to sharing a romantic tipple with the apple of their eye, but marketers should be aware of the potential pitfalls of mixing , alcohol and romance in their ads if they don’t want the heartbreak of a nasty post-publication hangover.

One thing leads to another

Suggesting that ingesting alcohol is likely to result in consumers getting lucky, or performing better between the sheets, is likely to be a problem. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld complaints about ads which implied that drunk girls are more promiscuous or that alcohol could help drinkers unleash their wild side.

What’s in a name?

Indulging in some saucy innuendo might feel irresistible if your product has a name like Stiffy’s or Bishop’s Finger, but jokes which are too saucy are a bad match. The ASA also upheld complaints about an ad for an Australian wine which invited consumers to taste the bush.

Leave something to the imagination

Sexually provocative imagery is likely to be problematic even if no further reference is made to the relationship between alcohol and sex. However, marketers should also be careful when featuring alcohol in more subtlyseductive scenes.